North Sea Faces Near-Term Softening of Subsea Demand

Cost concerns around large greenfield developments in the North Sea have either put some projects on hold or changed their scope to no longer include subsea components. Where the subsea tree market is buoyed slightly by demand for brownfield activities (that may not require additional SPU or flowlines), the SPU outlook relies on greenfield subsea tiebacks and stand alone developments. With Statoil reducing spending and depressed oil prices, a number of these greenfield developments have been pushed to the right within Questâ€™s award forecast.